There is a silent wish the two bison that were found dead in National Park Betla one on April 29 and May 4 do not turn out to be a case of deadly CBPP (Contagious bovine pleuro pneumonia), which in local parlance can be understood as lung plague.
Sources said all wait is for test report of their samples but meanwhile Head of the Forest Force (HoFF) cum Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Shashi Nandkeolyar rushed to National Park Betla to take stock of the situation here. Amid the COVID -19 pandemic it is a relief that there is so far no evidence of CBPP’s transmission into human beings as it only strikes adult cattle and water buffalos and yaks.
The origin of this CBPP is Africa but now it is a global threat to poor cattle said a vet doctor C Deb.
Sources said the lungs of the two bison had marbled appearances, which is a very stunning sign of CBPP and so all fingers are crossed.
An infected bison with CBPP can move unnoticed for three or more weeks before it gets severe and acute breathing troubles as with every respiration there comes a grunt sound.
Sources said an infected bison prefers to stand alone under any shed as sun it abhors when it is down with respiratory failure and bison keeps its head low with back arched.
Secretary Nature Conservation Society D S Srivastava the park management here needs to be extra alert and vigilant by keeping close monitoring of the bison in herd or walking down alone just to keep its every action under notice like breathing, eating.
Srivastava said an infected bison loses appetite, runs fever, cough and makes nasal discharge which is droplet and again these droplets are equally highly infectious and hazardous.
Nandkeolyar said park officials are keeping a close tab on the herd of bison adding further, “I have directed them not to be any lax in matter of handling bison here.”
The HoFF has conceded our field director PTR Y K Das has dropped a hint to him about bacterial infection reaching here.Nandkeolyar said all out efforts would be done to keep wild life flock healthy and intact.
Srivastava’s worry is enormous and genuine when he said, “Our state Jharkhand is the proud owner of bison and fortunately Palamu tiger reserve is the only reserve/ park in the whole of the state where are housed around 100 bison and if this CBPP breaks out here then one will have little time left for the bison.”
Asked that around 100 bison here in this Betla based park there are too many calves of them to which veterinary surgeon C Deb said calves of bison do not attract CBPP but get attacked by poly arthritis which causes swelling of joints and lameness.
Vet Deb agrees that treating any wild life for its sickness is never an easy task and with bison it is equally not an exception as well.
Deb said mortality rate in CBPP case is up to 50 % and since CBPP is air borne highly infectious bacterial disease its spread is fast among cattle and yaks also.